Kathy Mattea - Blue Diamond Mines lyrics

I remember the ways in the bygone days When we was all in our prime When us and John L. we give the old man hell Down in the Blue Diamond Mine Well the whistle would blow 'for the rooster crow Full two hours before daylight When a man done his best and earned his good rest At seven dollars a night In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I worked my life away In the mines in the mines In the Blue Diamond Mines I fall on my knees and pray. You old black gold you've taken my lung Your dust has darkened my home And now I am old and you've turned your back Where else can an old miner go Well it's Algomer Block and Big Leather Woods Now its Blue Diamond too The bits are all closed get another job What else can an old miner do? Now the union is dead and they shake their heads Well mining has had it's day But they're stripping off my mountain top And they pay me eight dollars a day